Minnesota Vikings PK Blair Walsh (hamstring) has been bothered by a nagging left hamstring injury, and it is partially to blame for a missed 53-yard field goal in the Week 7 game against the New York Giants Monday, Oct. 21. It was his first career miss from longer than 50 yards. He also has ceded kickoff duties to P Jeff Locke as a result of the injury.

Minnesota Vikings P Jeff Locke said he did not work on kickoffs during offseason workouts even though he 76.4 percent of his kickoffs went for touchbacks in college last season. PK Blair Walsh is expected to remain the kickoff specialist and had 61.6 percent of his kickoffs result in touchbacks in 2012.

Minnesota Vikings P Chris Kluwe said he is ready to compete with P Jeff Locke for the team's punter job. "If they don't know my character by now, then they're probably not ever going to figure it out," Kluwe said. "I am here to compete. I'm here to do the best job that I possibly can. It doesn't matter if they draft someone or they bring someone in or whatever. I'm here to do my job to the best of my ability."